Friday, 1 June 2012

John Paul II - The Triumph of Mary and the Great Jubilee

Among the various saints and visionaries who pointed to the prophetic significance of the turn of the millennium, the most prolific was none other than Bl. John Paul II. Time and again throughout his various papal documents, Pope John Paul II referred to the special significance of the Great Jubilee year at the turn of the millennium - going as far as to state that it was "a hermeneutical key of my Pontificate" (Tertio Millennio Adveniente, 23. See full text here). Strong words indeed, especially from someone whom was prophesied by St. Faustina as the one who would prepare the world for the Second Coming of Jesus:

"I bear a special love for Poland, and if she will be obedient to My will, I will exalt her in might and holiness. From her will come forth the spark that will prepare the world for My final coming." Notebook VI 1732

John Paul II held a very strong belief in the symbolic importance of time and dates, which is particularly evident from the apostolic letter Tertio Millennio Adveniente. But his deep reverence for the Great Jubilee year seems to go beyond mere fascination with symbolism. As prominent Catholic journalist Damian Thompson notes in his book The End of Time: Faith and Fear in the Shadow of the Millennium, the late Pope's underscoring of the symbolic significance of the turn of the millennium "frequently gives the impression that he knows more than he is letting on" (p172). Writing in 1996 - four years before the publication of the Third Secret, Thompson goes on to suggest that the Pope's level of regard for the turn of the millennium may be attributed to the content of the last secret of Fatima - a theory which would accord very well with my own hypothesis that the hidden text of the Third Secret contains a date pointing to this time period:

Not for the first time, one wonders if the Pope is deliberately tantalising his audience, for his references to Fatima are anything but transparent and comprehensible. Towards the end of [Crossing the Threshold of Hope], he returns to the subject as if it is something he cannot get off his mind. The Pope quotes the dying words of the Polish Cardinal August Hlond: 'The victory, if it comes, will come through Mary.' John Paul adds that, after he was elected pope, he came to have a similar conviction, even though at the time he knew little of the prophecies of Fatima. 'At first, I did not pay attention to the fact that the assassination attempt had occurred on the exact anniversary of the day Mary appeared to the three children at Fatima in Portugal and spoke to them the words that now, at the end of this century, seem to be close to their fulfilment.'......in passing over the Fatima material John Paul's critics may well have missed the whole point of the book. The Pope himself has said that the year 2000 provides the key to his papacy, which by any standards is one of the most remarkable in the annals of the Church; and his understanding of this Great Jubilee is by no means transparent or one-dimensional. It fits into a wider vision of the shape of history which he nowhere reveals in its entirety. But, by invoking the prophecies of the Virgin Mary at Fatima, he has, arguably, given the game away.
(Thompson, D. The End of Time: Faith and Fear in the Shadow of the Millennium, pp173-174).

John Paul II's concept of the significance of the Great Jubilee year was intimately tied to his anticipation of a "new springtime" for the Church. He envisaged it as a time of renewal preceded by Divine Mercy and the forgiveness of past sins, highlighting how Jewish thought on the jubilee year hinged upon the cancellation of debt. It will be worth looking at the thoughts of Bl. John Paul II on the significance of the Great Jubilee in some detail below:

Against this background, we can understand the custom of Jubilees, which began in the Old Testament and continues in the history of the Church. Jesus of Nazareth, going back one day to the synagogue of his home town, stood up to read (cf. Lk 4:16-30). Taking the book of the Prophet Isaiah, he read this passage: "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good tidings to the afflicted; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the Lord's favour" (61:1-2).The Jubilee, "a year of the Lord's favour", characterizes all the activity of Jesus; it is not merely the recurrence of an anniversary in time.12. The words and deeds of Jesus thus represent the fulfilment of the whole tradition of Jubilees in the Old Testament. We know that the Jubilee was a time dedicated in a special way to God. It fell every seventh year, according to the Law of Moses: this was the "sabbatical year", during which the earth was left fallow and slaves were set free. The duty to free slaves was regulated by detailed prescriptions contained in the Books of Exodus (23:10-11), Leviticus (25:1-28) and Deuteronomy (15:1-6). In other words, these prescriptions are found in practically the whole of biblical legislation, which is thus marked by this very specific characteristic. In the sabbatical year, in addition to the freeing of slaves the Law also provided for the cancellation of all debts in accordance with precise regulations. And all this was to be done in honour of God. What was true for the sabbatical year was also true for the jubilee year, which fell every fifty years. In the jubilee year, however, the customs of the sabbatical year were broadened and celebrated with even greater solemnity. As we read in Leviticus: "You shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants; it shall be a jubilee for you, when each of you shall return to his property and each of you shall return to his family" (25:10). One of the most significant consequences of the jubilee year was the general "emancipation" of all the dwellers on the land in need of being freed. On this occasion every Israelite regained possession of his ancestral land, if he happened to have sold it or lost it by falling into slavery. He could never be completely deprived of the land, because it belonged to God; nor could the Israelites remain for ever in a state of slavery, since God had "redeemed" them for himself as his exclusive possession by freeing them from slavery in Egypt.The prescriptions for the jubilee year largely remained ideals—more a hope than an actual fact. They thus became a prophetia futuri insofar as they foretold the freedom which would be won by the coming Messiah. Even so, on the basis of the juridical norms contained in these prescriptions a kind of social doctrine began to emerge, which would then more clearly develop beginning with the New Testament. The jubilee year was meant to restore equality among all the children of Israel, offering new possibilities to families which had lost their property and even their personal freedom...

If in his Providence God had given the earth to humanity, that meant that he had given it to everyone. Therefore the riches of Creation were to be considered as a common good of the whole of humanity. Those who possessed these goods as personal property were really only stewards, ministers charged with working in the name of God, who remains the sole owner in the full sense, since it is God's will that created goods should serve everyone in a just way. The jubilee year was meant to restore this social justice. The social doctrine of the Church, which has always been a part of Church teaching and which has developed greatly in the last century, particularly after the Encyclical Rerum Novarum, is rooted in the tradition of the jubilee year.14. What needs to be emphasized, however, is what Isaiah expresses in the words "to proclaim the year of the Lord's favour". For the Church, the Jubilee is precisely this "year of the Lord's favour", a year of the remission of sins and of the punishments due to them, a year of reconciliation between disputing parties, a year of manifold conversions and of sacramental and extra-sacramental penance. The tradition of jubilee years involves the granting of indulgences on a larger scale than at other times...

In view of this, the two thousand years which have passed since the Birth of Christ (prescinding from the question of its precise chronology) represent an extraordinarily great Jubilee, not only for Christians but indirectly for the whole of humanity, given the prominent role played by Christianity during these two millennia. It is significant that the calculation of the passing years begins almost everywhere with the year of Christ's coming into the world, which is thus the centre of the calendar most widely used today. Is this not another sign of the unparalleled effect of the Birth of Jesus of Nazareth on the history of mankind?
(Tertio Millennio Adveniente)

It is also by no accident that the Great Jubilee was chosen as the year of the canonisation of St. Faustina and inauguration of the feast of Divine Mercy Sunday. During his homily on Divine Mercy Sunday in 2001, the pope quoted from St. Faustina's Diary:

Jesus said to Sr Faustina one day: "Humanity will never find peace until it
turns with trust to Divine Mercy" (Diary, p. 132). Divine Mercy! This is
the Easter gift that the Church receives from the risen Christ and offers to
humanity at the dawn of the third millennium.
(See here)

This quote refers to various other prophecies of St. Faustina concerning the period of Mercy that will be given to the world before Christ's coming in judgment:

Speak to the world about My mercy... It is a sign for the end times. After
it will come the Day of Justice. While there is still time, let them have
recourse to the fountain of My mercy.
(Diary 848)

Before the Day of Justice, I am sending the Day of Mercy.
(Diary 1588)

He who refuses to pass through the door of My mercy must pass through the door of My justice. (Diary 1146).

You have to speak to the world about His great mercy and prepare the world for the Second Coming of Him who will come, not as a merciful Savior, but as a just Judge. Oh how terrible is that day! Determined is the day of justice, the day of divine wrath. The angels tremble before it. Speak to souls about this great mercy while it is still the time for granting mercy.
(Diary 635).

The fact that Bl. John Paul II chose the feast of the Great Jubilee to establish the feast of Divine Mercy Sunday, gives us a degree of insight into his beliefs concerning this richly symbolic time period. We can gain a further sense of John Paul II's thought on the significance of the Great Jubilee year, and its relation to the coming of the Second Pentecost or "new springtime" of the Church, by further examining Tertio Millennio Adveniente:

With regard to its content, this Great Jubilee will be, in a certain sense, like any other. But at the same time it will be different, greater than any other. For the Church respects the measurements of time: hours, days, years, centuries. She thus goes forward with every individual, helping everyone to realize how each of these measurements of time is imbued with the presence of God and with his saving activity. In this spirit the Church rejoices, gives thanks and asks forgiveness, presenting her petitions to the Lord of history and of human consciences. Among the most fervent petitions which the Church makes to the Lord during this important time, as the eve of the new millennium approaches, is that unity among all Christians of the various confessions will increase until they reach full communion...

What these Popes have accomplished during and since the Council, in their Magisterium no less than in their pastoral activity, has certainly made a significant contribution to the preparation of that new springtime of Christian life which will be revealed by the Great Jubilee, if Christians are docile to the action of the Holy Spirit.

So it is clear that John Paul II thought of the turn of the millennium as the beginning of a "new springtime" for the Church, which in the papal encyclical Dominum et Vivificantem, he links with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit promised during the Second Pentecost:

The Church feels herself called to this mission of
proclaiming the Spirit, while together with the human family she approaches the
end of the second Millennium after Christ. Against the background of a heaven
and earth which will "pass away," she knows well that "the words which will not
pass away"acquire a particular eloquence. They are the words
of Christ about the Holy Spirit, the inexhaustible source of the "water welling
up to eternal life," as truth and saving grace. Upon these words she
wishes to reflect, to these words she wishes to call the attention of believers
and of all people, as she prepares to celebrate- as will be said later on-the
great Jubilee which will mark the passage from the second to the third Christian
Millennium.

We can thus see the intent of the symbolic gesture made by the Pope during his pilgrimage to the Holy Land during the Great Jubilee year, when on 23rd March, 2000, he became the first pope in history to pray in the Cenacle - the Upper Room in Jerusalem where the Last Supper was held, and the same location where the Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles during Pentecost.

When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.
(Acts 2:1-4)

As we shall discuss in more detail in a future post, the scene of the tongues of fire descending upon Apostles during Pentecost was reenacted during the apparitions of Our Lady of Assiut on the Great Jubilee year on 29th March 2000 (just days after the Pope's prayers in the Cenacle) - one of the most remarkable apparitions of modern times (which I argue in the book are directly connected to the prophecy of the Woman Adorned with the Sun in Rev 12). According to eyewitness accounts, the apparitions at Assiut began inside the Church at an icon representing the descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, which depicted the Virgin Mary with a Dove over her head surrounded by the disciples. The Dove in the icon began to illuminate first, and the light then spread down to illuminate the heads of the disciples before spreading around the rest of the Church (see the full eyewitness report at the Zeitun website here).
It is also perhaps worth noting that St. Peter's first words at Pentecost are taken from the Book of Joel, directly linking the final Outpouring of the Spirit with the "signs of heaven", which we have already noted in the post Signs in the Sky, all took place at the turn of the millennium:

But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them: “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and give ear to my words. For these people are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel: “‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams; even on my male servants and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy. And I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke; the sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day.And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.’
(Acts 2:14-21)

And on a further side note, the mention of the "blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke" that was predicted by Joel to accompany the signs in heaven would most likely correspond with the 9/11 attacks in 2001 (see the post The Two Towers and the Sixth Seal).

We find John Paul II's emphasis on the outpouring of the Spirit once again in the apostolic letter Novo Millennio Ineunte, where the Pope stated that the symbolic actions undertaken during the feast of the Great Jubilee year should be considered as a prophecy of the future:

It is impossible to take the measure of this event of grace which in the course of the year has touched people's hearts. But certainly, "a river of living water", the water that continually flows "from the throne of God and of the Lamb" (cf. Rev 22:1), has been poured out on the Church. This is the water of the Spirit which quenches thirst and brings new life (cf. Jn 4:14). This is the merciful love of the Father which has once again been made known and given to us in Christ. At the end of this year we can repeat with renewed jubilation the ancient words of thanksgiving: "Give thanks to the Lord for he is good, for his love endures for ever" (Ps 118:1).

For all this, I feel the need to write to you, dearly beloved, to share this song of praise with you. From the beginning of my Pontificate, my thoughts had been on this Holy Year 2000 as an important appointment. I thought of its celebration as a providential opportunity during which the Church, thirty-five years after the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, would examine how far she had renewed herself, in order to be able to take up her evangelizing mission with fresh enthusiasm.

Has the Jubilee succeeded in this aim? Our commitment, with its generous efforts and inevitable failings, is under God's scrutiny. But we cannot fail to give thanks for the "marvels" the Lord has worked for us: "Misericordias Domini in aeternum cantabo" (Ps 89:2).

At the same time, what we have observed demands to be reconsidered, and in a sense "deciphered", in order to hear what the Spirit has been saying to the Church (cf. Rev 2:7,11,17, etc.) during this most intense year.

Dear Brothers and Sisters, it is especially necessary for us to direct our thoughts to the future which lies before us. Often during these months we have looked towards the new millennium which is beginning, as we lived this Jubilee not only as a remembrance of the past, but also as a prophecy of the future.
(See full text here).

In another important encyclical, Redemptoris Mater, John Paul II speaks of the significance of the turn of the millennium while reflecting upon the precursory role of the Virgin Mary in accordance with the Divine plan of salvation. There appears to be some notable influences here of the mariology of St. Louis De Montfort, who spoke of the eschatological role of Mary leading up to the time of the Second Advent:

The circumstance which now moves me to take up this subject once more is the prospect of the year 2000, now drawing near, in which the Bimillennial Jubilee of the birth of Jesus Christ at the same time directs our gaze towards his Mother. In recent years, various opinions have been voiced suggesting that it would be fitting to precede that anniversary by a similar Jubilee in celebration of the birth of Mary.In fact, even though it is not possible to establish an exact chronological point for identifying the date of Mary's birth, the Church has constantly been aware that Mary appeared on the horizon of salvation history before Christ. It is a fact that when "the fullness of time" was definitively drawing near-the saving advent of Emmanuel - he who was from eternity destined to be his Mother already existed on earth. The fact that she "preceded" the coming of Christ is reflected every year in the liturgy of Advent. Therefore, if to that ancient historical expectation of the Savior we compare these years which are bringing us closer to the end of the second Millennium after Christ and to the beginning of the third, it becomes fully comprehensible that in this present period we wish to turn in a special way to her, the one who in the "night" of the Advent expectation began to shine like a true "Morning Star" (Stella Matutina). For just as this star, together with the "dawn," precedes the rising of the sun, so Mary from the time of her Immaculate Conception preceded the coming of the Savior, the rising of the "Sun of Justice" in the history of the human race.

Her presence in the midst of Israel-a presence so discreet as to pass almost unnoticed by the eyes of her contemporaries-shone very clearly before the Eternal One, who had associated this hidden "daughter of Sion" (cf. Zeph. 3:14; Zeph. 2:10) with the plan of salvation embracing the whole history of humanity. With good reason, then, at the end of this Millennium, we Christians who know that the providential plan of the Most Holy Trinity is the central reality of Revelation and of faith feel the need to emphasize the unique presence of the Mother of Christ in history, especially during these last years leading up to the year 2000.

If we compare the above reflections on the turn of the millennium and the precursory role of the Virgin Mary with the prophecies of St. Louis De Montfort in his Treatise on True Devotion, we can see some striking parallels:"If ...as is certain, the
knowledge and the kingdom of Jesus Christ must come into the world, it can only
be as a necessary consequence of the knowledge and reign of Mary. She who first
gave him to the world will establish his kingdom in the
world...The
salvation of the world began through Mary and through her it must be
accomplished. Mary scarcely appeared in the first coming of Jesus Christ so that
men, as yet insufficiently instructed and enlightened concerning the person of
her Son, might not wander from the truth by becoming too strongly attached to
her...But
in the second coming of Jesus Christ, Mary must be known and openly revealed by
the Holy Spirit so that Jesus may be known, loved and served through her. The
reasons which moved the Holy Spirit to hide his spouse during her life and to
reveal but very little of her since the first preaching of the gospel exist no
longer...In
these latter times Mary must shine forth more than ever in mercy, power and
grace; in mercy, to bring back and welcome lovingly the poor sinners and
wanderers who are to be converted and return to the Catholic Church; in power,
to combat the enemies of God who will rise up menacingly to seduce and crush by
promises and threats all those who oppose them; finally, she must shine forth in
grace to inspire and support the valiant soldiers and loyal servants of Jesus
Christ who are fighting for his cause.It is chiefly in reference to
these last wicked persecutions of the devil, daily increasing until the advent
of the reign of anti-Christ, that we should understand that first and well-known
prophecy and curse of God uttered against the serpent in the garden of paradise.
It is opportune to explain it here for the glory of the Blessed Virgin, the
salvation of her children and the confusion of the devil. "I will place enmities
between you and the woman, between your race and her race; she will crush your
head and you will lie in wait for her heel" (Gen. 3:15)......the humble Mary
will always triumph over Satan, the proud one, and so great will be her victory
that she will crush his head, the very seat of his pride. She will unmask his
serpent's cunning and expose his wicked plots. She will scatter to the winds his
devilish plans and to the end of time will keep her faithful servants safe from
his cruel claws. But Mary's power over the evil spirits will especially shine
forth in the latter times, when Satan will lie in wait for her heel, that is,
for her humble servants and her poor children whom she will rouse to fight
against him.(See the full chapter of the relevant portion of Treatise on True Devotion here).

The kernel of John Paul II's thought on the precursory role of Mary and its relation to the Second Advent and the turn of the millennium in the 1987 encyclical Redemptoris Mater, can be found in a prayer service the Pope held at the Spanish Steps on 8th Dec, 1983.

O Mary! Be the Mother of our liberation from every evil: From the evil that overburdens man's
conscience, and from that evil which always more threateningly
obstructs the horizon of our century. You are the light of
the first Advent! You are the morning star that precedes the coming
of the Messiah. Now that the Church and mankind are approaching the
end of the second millennium of Christ's coming-- be for
us the light of this new Advent, be its morning star, so
that darkness does not surround us! Precisely at the end of the
second millenniumthere accumulate on the horizon of all mankind
enormously threatening clouds, and darkness falls upon human
souls.

(The full English text of this prayer can be found here. The original document can be found in Italian on the Vatican website here.)

Of further import which appears to link this thought back to the prophecies of Our Lady of Fatima, we find that this prayer was offered on the exact same day the pope issued his intention to carry out the Act of Entrustment of the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary in an apostolic letter, with words that were quite rightly labelled as "apocalyptic" by some sections of the media:

Dear brothers in the episcopal ministry. On 25 March 1983 we started the special Jubilee of the Redemption. Thank you again for joining me in inaugurating, in that same day, the Year of the Redemption in your diocese. The solemnity of the Annunciation, which recalls the liturgical year in the beginning of the work of redemption in human history, was particularly suited for such opening. This is connected with the beginning of Advent, and all the current Year of the Redemption has in a sense the character of Advent, as we approach the two thousand years after Christ's birth. We live this expectation of the fulfillment of the second millennium of the Christian era, sharing difficult and painful experiences of the people, indeed all humanity in the contemporary world.

This world of men and nations we have before our eyes today: the world of the second millennium is ending, the contemporary world, our world! The Church, remembering the words of the Lord: "Go... and make disciples of all nations...Here I am with you always, until the end of the world " (Mt 28, 19-20), has revived, in Vatican Council II, the consciousness of his mission in this world. And therefore, O Mother of men and peoples, you who know all their sufferings and their hopes, you who feel maternally all the struggles between good and evil, between light and darkness, which afflict the modern world, accept the plea that, moved by the Holy Spirit, address directly to your heart, hugs with love of the Mother and Handmaid of the Lord, that our human world, that I entrust and consecrate to you, full of concern for the earthly and eternal destiny of and peoples. In a special way we entrust and consecrate to you those individuals and nations, which thus entrusted and consecrated especially need.

Immaculate Heart! Help us to conquer the menace of evil, which so easily takes root in the hearts of people today, and whose immeasurable effects already weigh down upon our modern world and seem to block the paths towards the future! From famine and war, deliver us! From nuclear war, from incalculable self-destruction, from every kind of war, deliver us! From sins against human life from its very beginning, deliver us! From hatred and from the dignity of the sons of God, deliver us!From every kind of injustice in society, national and international, deliver us! From readiness to trample on the commandments of God, deliver us! From attempts to stifle in human hearts the very truth of God, deliver us! From the loss of awareness of good and evil, deliver us! From sins against the Holy Spirit, deliver us! deliver us!

(The original Italian is here. Both this original Italian document, as well as that of the prayer service held at the Spanish Steps above, bear the date of 8th Dec 1983).

There is a certain logic behind the idea that the role of Our Lady in End-time events would occur by the millennial anniversary of her greatest contribution to salvation history - the moment when she brought forth her Son for the redemption of the world. And John Paul II was undoubtedly fully aware of the various prophecies that pointed to this time period as the time of the Triumph of Mary. As we have already discussed in recent posts, the turn of the millennium was highlighted by a number of saints and visionaries as a time of singular prophetic importance. According to the most widely accepted interpretation of Pope Leo XIII's prophecy of the 100 years of Satan's power, the turn of the millennium marked the end of Satan's greater control over human affairs. This prophecy is styled after the Book of Job, where Satan is permitted to test God's servant through a series of trials. Here Satan acts in the forensic role of the prosecution before the heavenly court, where he accuses the Christian brethren "day and night before our God" (Rev 12:10). The fact that Pope Leo set about composing the St. Michael prayer directly after experiencing this vision, specifically links the end of this 100 years of power with the outcome of the War in Heaven described in Rev 12:7-12, when Satan is cast from the heavenly court to earth, whereupon he transfers his great power and authority to the Beast that rises from the sea:

Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back, but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death. Therefore, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!”
(Rev 12:7-12)

St. John Bosco also pointed to this time period as the moment of a great Marian victory (see here), as did Fr. Stefano Gobbi (see here). And in the post The Year of the Dragon, we discuss various other prophecies concerning the turn of the millennium.
According to traditional Catholic thought, the victory over Satan is won through the intercession of Mary, who as the Woman Adorned with the Sun, was foretold in the protoevangelium to crush the head of the Serpent:

I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring;he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.
(Gen 3:15)

This passage is frequently alluded to in Scripture as a prediction of the defeat of Satan - the moment God deals a fatal blow to the head of the Leviathan:

Yet God my King is from of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth. You divided the sea by your might; you broke the heads of the sea monsters on the waters. You crushed the heads of Leviathan; you gave him as food for the creatures of the wilderness.
(Ps 74:12-14)

In that day the LORD with his hard and great and strong sword will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan the twisting serpent, and he will slay the dragon that is in the sea.
(Isa 27:1)

The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
(Rom 16:20)

And he said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you.(Luke 10:18-19)

But paradoxically, while this is a moment of great victory in heaven, that will allow the fruit of the Triumph to take place with the gift of the Second Pentecost, it is also a time of great peril for the inhabitants of the earth - "Therefore, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!”. Upon being cast to earth, Satan immediately continues his quest to destroy the Woman (who also represents the Church), sending forth a flood of apostasy which threatens to sweep her away (a time period it seems that we are currently experiencing), before she is rescued by the two wings of the great eagle (which represents the Two Witnesses), who inaugurate the Second Pentecost - after which, the earth comes to the Woman's aid and the flood is swallowed up:

And when the dragon saw that he had been thrown down to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. But the woman was given the two wings of the great eagle so that she might fly from the serpent into the wilderness, to the place where she is to be nourished for a time, and times, and half a time. The serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, to sweep her away with a flood. But the earth came to the help of the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed the river that the dragon had poured from his mouth.
(Rev 12:13-16)

The Devil cannot succeed to sweep the Woman away with the flood, for the Church is built upon the Rock of St. Peter - "on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it". (Matt 16:18)

“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock."
(Matt 7:24-25)

Once thwarted by the ministry of the Two Witnesses, the Dragon then sets about pursuing the rest of the Woman's seed - which refers to the final persecution of Christians under the Antichrist:

Then the dragon became furious with the woman and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring, on those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus. And he stood on the sand of the sea.
(Rev 12:17)

So although the victory is won in heaven and the head of the Serpent has been crushed, enigmatically, once he has been cast to earth Satan transfers his power and authority to the Beast, so that the mortal wound dealt to the head of the Leviathan appears to be healed:

And I saw a beast rising out of the sea, with ten horns and seven heads, with ten diadems on its horns and blasphemous names on its heads. And the beast that I saw was like a leopard; its feet were like a bear's, and its mouth was like a lion's mouth. And to it the dragon gave his power and his throne and great authority. One of its heads seemed to have a mortal wound, but its mortal wound was healed, and the whole earth marveled as they followed the beast. And they worshiped the dragon, for he had given his authority to the beast, and they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast, and who can fight against it?”
(Rev 13:1-4)

It is at this same point in time that the prophecy of the mark of the Beast is fulfilled as an antithetical parallelism of the sealing of the saints in heaven during the opening of the sixth seal. The forerunner to the Antichrist - the False Prophet or "anti-Elijah", has already prepared the way for the coming of the Beast by causing the inhabitants of the earth to construct for themselves an image in its honour - an image which is one and the same as the "mark" bearing the number of its name.

Then I saw another beast rising out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb and it spoke like a dragon. It exercises all the authority of the first beast in its presence, and makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose mortal wound was healed. It performs great signs, even making fire come down from heaven to earth in front of people, and by the signs that it is allowed to work in the presence of the beast it deceives those who dwell on earth, telling them to make an image for the beast that was wounded by the sword and yet lived. And it was allowed to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast might even speak and might cause those who would not worship the image of the beast to be slain.
(Rev 13:11-15)

So each of these prophecies converge on a single point in time - a prophetic nexus that was the millennial anniversary of the Advent of Christ. A time period which John Paul II pointed to as the ushering in of a new Advent, guided by the Morning Star of the Theotokos - the God-bearer. The one who crushes the head of the Serpent to illuminate the way before the dawn of the Second Pentecost, when the Bride will prepare itself for the coming of the Groom.
If the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary began on the Great Jubilee year, then it should be thought of as occurring over an age rather than a specific moment in time. It is an ongoing process in an age which will bring forth a new springtime for the faith before the Second Coming of Christ, when the Triumph will finally be complete and the final trial will begin.
It would also make sense out of St. Faustina's prophecy that a spark would come from Poland to prepare the way for the Coming of Christ; as by his own admission, the pontificate of Bl. John Paul II was centred around the Great Jubilee - the moment when the prophecy of the Woman Adorned with the Sun appears to have reached its ultimate fulfilment. It may also further explain the motto De Labor Solis ("from the labour of the Sun"), which is equated with the pontificate of John Paul II in St. Malachy's list of popes. It is well known that Karol Wojtyla (John Paul II) was both born and buried on the day of a solar eclipse. But this phrase is also obviously derived from the imagery of the birth pangs of the Woman Adorned with the Sun in Rev 12. A portion of the Apocalyspe which depicts the Virgin Mary as the Mother of the Second Advent, preparing the way for the defeat of Satan and the Second Coming of her Son, Christ Jesus:

And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth.
(Rev 12:1-2)

23 comments:

I have to say, that I was just blown away at the end of this post and understood for the first time at the striking parallel between Mary giving birth to Jesus and fleeing into the wilderness, and the woman adorned with the son doing the exact same thing but it being the Church and her seed. The time between fleeing and then to persecution in both instances being a time of preparation for persecution. Now I get why we Will have a Second Pentecost. It reflects Jesus time of growing preaching and teaching. Does this make any sense to anyone else? Or am I just babeling?

Well obviously I don't think you are babbling! I'm glad you understand - all of these concepts combined can be very tricky to grasp without analysing the arguements holistically. You appear to have seen something I just caught on to myself about the reenactment of the life of Christ with your statement "It reflects Jesus time of growing preaching and teaching". I don't want to adhere to set dates or anything - since this is inadvisable, but it is interesting that the next major event in the life of Jesus is that of the "Finding in the Temple". This event, when the Lord first began to reveal his knowledge to the teachers in the Temple, occurred when Christ was twelve years old - which is significant since this is the year 2012 - twelve years after what appears to have been the beginning of the Second Advent:

"Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. And when he was twelve years old, they went up according to custom. And when the feast was ended, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents did not know it, but supposing him to be in the group they went a day's journey, but then they began to search for him among their relatives and acquaintances, and when they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem, searching for him. After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers.(Luke 2:41-47)

I wonder if the next significant event in the history of salvation is to happen soon? It will be interesting to see if anything of spiritual importance occurs during the course of this year.

My thoughts exactly Jamey. You hear prophecies about a warning of sorts, or illumination of the Souls. I'm not saying it's true or not, but something like that could for sure spark a Second Pentecost. Either way this passage in St. Faustinas diary comes to mind:

Write this: before I come as the Just Judge, I am coming first as the King of Mercy. Before the day of justice arrives, there will be given to people a sign in the heavens of this sort:

All light in the heavens will be extinguished, and there will be great darkness over the whole earth. Then the sign of the cross will be seen in the sky, and from the openings where the hands and the feet of the Saviour were nailed will come forth great lights which will light up the earth for a period of time. This will take place shortly before the last day.

Emmett,

I was sitting in front of Jesus in the Tabernacle at the time it hit me for what it's worth. Your explanation makes a ton of sense. You could almost see a rekindling of the Faith imagery taking place in that passage further as Mary (the Church) finding Jesus again after a time of confusion and almost panic trying to find her son. I may be reaching here, but it's interesting to note.

Looking at various private revelations Jamey, it does seem that the Second Pentecost will be preceded by a "great sign" (the approved ones being that mentioned by Joe above, as well as in the prophecies of Akita), and that it is also connected with the martyrdom of a pope. But it's almost impossible to determine exactly how these events will unfold in advance.

That parallel about the finding of Jesus in the Temple and the Church finding Christ again after losing him in a time of confusion is very insightful Joe. Profound in fact. Let's just hope and pray that things unfold in the way these various signs appear to be pointing, and that the Good Shepherd will gather his sheep who are not of this fold, and that there will be one flock and one shepherd:

"I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd."(John 10:11-16)

Emmett et al,This doesn't directly concern your latest post, but with the transit of Venus I thought I would give the link to this website who seems to have some insight into some of the signs in the sky, especially this year:

Cheers Jason, that was a good interview! So much controversy around Martin, he seemed very switched on and aware of where things were at in the church and the world at large.

When he spoke about churchmen destroying the church I thought of Perth Cathedral which recently had $31 million spent on it, and was de-Catholicised almost to the point of sacrilege. The new altar is about 20 metres away from the tabernacle, the beautiful grand high altar gone. The church has been widened and the narrow vertical lofty feeling gone. The accoustics were destroyed due to the amount of glass used and as a result the choir must now stand in front of the tabernacle with their backside to it.

One priest called it the "abomination of desolation." A non believing friend said it felt like someone had been murdered there, I thought the faith. Another person commented, it is odd when the Perth Anglican Cathedral is more Catholic than St Mary's. Going to mass there leaves one with the feeling that they haven't gone.

Thanks Jason! I've heard that clip before - it is very insightful. Yes it does seem that martyrdom will definitely go hand-in-hand with the Second Pentecost/Triumph.

Hi rkd, I was thinking of the signifcance of Venus' transit of the Sun - which is a very rare astronomical event. 2012 seems to be stepping up to be another important year for celestial omens - the best since the turn of the millennium, in fact. Although we are forbidden to use study of the stars to attempt to preempt future events (which is astrology), Christ did instruct us to look to astronomical phenomena to be able to discern the "signs of the times":

“And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth distress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves..."(Luke 21:25)

He answered them, “When it is evening, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.’ And in the morning, ‘It will be stormy today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times.(Matthew 16:2-3)

Thanks for that Joe! There is some pretty interesting stuff in there, although some of it appears to be over-reaching and convulted. But I did see something important among the Scripture references which is almost certainly related to the interpretation of the Third Secret, which I'll include in a post that I'm working on.

Sr. Faustina's diary uses St. Faustina writes statements from Jesus like, "This will take place shortly before the last day." and "before my final coming", concerning the great sign in the heavens (The Warning, ie Jesus crucified in the sky after the Heavens grow dark)

But we are to experience 1000 years of peace says the Bible. Is this 1000 years after the warning?

The Fatima message refers to an era of peace, Fr. Gobbi's book states that Satan will be chained and thrown into Hell "once and for all" and also, "from which he (Satan) can no longer get out."

But the Bible states in Revelation that, He (Satan in the end) will be loosed for a while.

I don't see how Satan being "loosed for a while" fits in to the prophetic landscape? If this period coming is the "final" coming of Jesus and Satan is chained and thrown into Hell, from which he no longer can get out, How does this jive with Satan being loosed for a while?

The Catholic Church teaches that there will not be a future millennial reign of Christ on earth - which is a concept known as millennialism or chiliasm. It's usually only Evangelical dispensationlists that beleive in a future millennial reign of Christ (usually in the form of premillennialism). Chiliasm/millennialism is thought to have been condemned as a heresy by the Council of Constantiople in AD381, and was vigoursly attacked by St. Augustine, who forwarded the amillennial position currently favoured by the Catholic Church - i.e. the millennium began with Christ's binding of Satan (the "strong man" mentioned in the Gospel below) through His own ministry. I suggest in the book that if we need a literal one thousand years, we should look to the first thousand years of Christian unity, before the Church was divided against itself following the Great Schism between the Catholic and Eastern Orthdox Churches in 1054:

"Knowing their thoughts, he said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will stand. And if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand? And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. Or how can someone enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? Then indeed he may plunder his house."(Matt 12:25-29)

The loosing of Satan for a while corresponds to Pope Leo XIII's prophecy of the 100 years of Satan's greater power. See the post below:

Satan will only be thrown into the lake of fire following the resurrection of the dead and Last Judgment. While he fell from grace, the Book of Job and the Book of Revelation tells us that he still had access to the heavenly court, and could come and go between heaven and earth at a whim. Rev 12 tells us that he would be cast to earth by the archangel Michael at some point near the end of the world - a period which corresponds to the end of his hundred years of power. After which he tranfers his power and authority to the beast which rises from the sea in Rev 13 - i.e. the person of the Antichrist.

The original secrets of La Salette tell us that the era of peace would not last long before it is disturbed by the coming of a monster. A scenario which is similar suggested by the fact that the Second Pentecost will be established by the Two Witnesses, who will in turn be killed by the beast which rises from the bottomless pit Rev 11:7. This suggests that there is only a few decades at most between the Second Pentecost/era of peace and the coming of the Antichrist.

There will not be a few decacdes. It will be the beginning of a New Age of long duration. Don't forget that to God, a day is a thousand years and a thousand years is like a day. The Sabbath Day's rest for humanity will last for long human years.

As Venerable Bartholomew Holzhauser (17th century) predicted:

"..."...[After a world war] will come a new period, in which two mighty ones will face each other. The wrangle between these two will begin in the second half of the twentieth century. It will overthrow mountains and silt up rivers. A great change will come to pass, such as no mortal man will have expected; Heaven and Hell will confront each other in this struggle, old states will perish and light and darkness will be pitted against each other with swords, but it will be swords of a different fashion. With these swords it will be possible to cut up the skies and split the earth. A great lament will come over all mankind...And neither of the two adversaries will conquer nor be vanquished. Both mighty ones will lie on the ground, and a new mankind will come into existence. God possesses the key to everything. Blessed is he who will then be able to praise him, having obeyed all his commandments. And the great monarch of the world will create new laws for the new mankind and will cause a new age to begin, in which there will be only one flock and one shepherd, and peace will be of long, long duration, for the glory of God in heaven and on earth. The Sixth Age of the Spirit commences with the powerful Monarch and the Holy Pontiff...This will be an age of consolation in which God will console His Spirit of the affliction and the great tribulation of the preceding age. All the nations will be united in the Catholic faith. The sacerdocy will flower more than ever, and men will seek the kingdom of God in all solicitude... Many saints and doctors will flourish in the earth. Men will love reason and justice. Peace will reign in all the universe, because the divine power will bind Satan for many years, until the son of perdition will rave anew...It is in that age that the relation of the sixth Spirit of the Lord will be known, that is to say the Spirit of Wisdom that God diffuses over all the surfaces of the globes in those times. For men will fear the Lord their God, they will observe the law and serve it with all their heart. The sciences will be multiplied and complete on the earth. The Holy Scriptures will be unanimously understood, without controversy and without the errors of heresies. Men will be enlightened, so much as in the natural sciences and in the celestial sciences. Finally, the Sixth Church, the Church of Philadelphia, is the type of this sixth age, for Philadelphia signifies friendship of brothers, and again guarding the heritage in union with the Lord. Now all these characters convene perfectly in the sixth age, in which they will have love, concord and perfect peace and in which the powerful Monarch will have to consider almost the entire world as his heritage. He will deliver up the earth, with the aid of the Lord his God from all his enemies, of ruin and of all evil...For likewise, in this epoch, the people of Israel will be consoled to a very high degree by the Lord, our God, who will deliver them from the captivity of Babylon. The kingdoms, the nations, and the people will submit to the Roman Empire [new global structure], furiously vanquished by the very powerful and very illustrious monarch who will govern during fifty-six years, rendering the peace of the universe...Thus, in the Sixth Age, God will delight his Church with the greatest prosperity...this monarch will reign in the orient and in the occident. All the nations will come and adore the Lord their God...for all nations will be brought to the unity of the True catholic faith..."

The Great Monarch will reign for 56 years and then the world shall be under the shadow and protection of his successors.

"...The Lord will give good pastors to the Church. Men will live in peace and this will be granted because people will make their peace with God. They will be reconciled with the one God. They will live in the shadow of the powerful Monarch and of his successors; under the protection of the Great Monarch and his successors..."

This implies a long time after the 56 year reign of the Monarch. It will be a renaissance of the human spirit "for the glory of God in heaven and on earth". Heaven cannot be glorified by a "few" human deacdes.

I would question whether the above "prophecy" was a geniune private revelation. It is taken from Ven. Holzhauser's Interpretatio Apocalypsis, which was written in the 17th century. This work is mostly personal speculation based on various Medieval prophecies of varying degrees of authenticity, rather than being a direct vision. Crucically, the chronology of the Interpretatio Apocalypsis is based on the millenarianism of Joachim de Fiore (12th century)- whose work on this subject was condemned as heresy by Pope Alexander IV in 1256 and again at the Synod of Arles in 1263, and was also confuted by St. Thomas Aquinas. Some people tend to treat such prophecies as the same level of authority as Scripture - which is a very serious error. The Church teaches that even geniune private revelations can be mistaken, given that they are subject to the limitations of the seer.So we have to be very careful in which private revelations we accept, and acknowledge that they have a hierarchy of authority. Church approved private revelations should be considered the to have the highest level of authority in this regard. So if the Church approved prophecy of La Salette tells us that the period of peace will not last a long time, this would vastly outstrip the above "prophecy" of Ven. Holzhauser in authority:

"Before all that arrives, great disorders will arrive, in the Church, and everywhere. Then, after [that], our Holy Father the Pope will be persecuted. His successor will be a pontiff that nobody expects.Then, after [that], a great peace will come, but it will not last a long time. A monster will come to disturb it."

(The Secret given to Maximin Giruad)

Also the Catechism of the Catholic Church explicitly teaches that there will not be a long lasting age of triumph for the Church - a notion which it condemns as being part of the heresy of millenarianism:

The Antichrist's deception already begins to take shape in the world every time the claim is made to realize within history that messianic hope which can only be realized beyond history through the eschatological judgement. The Church has rejected even modified forms of this falsification of the kingdom to come under the name of millenarianism, especially the "intrinsically perverse" political form of a secular messianism. The Church will enter the glory of the kingdom only through this final Passover, when she will follow her Lord in his death and Resurrection. The kingdom will be fulfilled, then, not by a historic triumph of the Church through a progressive ascendancy, but only by God's victory over the final unleashing of evil, which will cause his Bride to come down from heaven. God's triumph over the revolt of evil will take the form of the Last Judgement after the final cosmic upheaval of this passing world. (CCC 676-677)

The problem is that the most important section relevant to us comes not from the Interpretatio but from the "Visions", which the Interpretatio is an interpretation of based upon scholars (then) knowledge of medieval prophecy (Holzhauser wanted to interpret his prophecies in light of tradition):

“[After a world war] will come a new period, in which two mighty ones will face each other. The wrangle between these two will begin in the second half of the twentieth century. It will overthrow mountains and silt up rivers. A great change will come to pass, such as no mortal man will have expected; Heaven and Hell will confront each other in this struggle, old states will perish and light and darkness will be pitted against each other with swords, but it will be swords of a different fashion. With these swords it will be possible to cut up the skies and split the earth. A great lament will come over all mankind and only a small batch will survive the storm, the pestilence and the horror. And neither of the two adversaries will conquer nor be vanquished. Both mighty ones will lie on the ground, and a new mankind will come into existence. God possesses the key to everything. Blessed is he who will then be able to praise him, having obeyed all his commandments. And the great monarch of the world will create new laws for the new mankind and will cause a new age to begin, in which there will be only one flock and one shepherd, and peace will be of long, long duration, for the glory of God in heaven and on earth…” 20

This is from the "Visions" not the "Apocalypsin".

Are you aware of the important prophecies relating to England in Holzhauser's works (both "Visions" and "Apocalypsin"? I am new to your blog so I don't know).

I would be more considerate to Ven. Holzhauser. Pope Benedict XVI is very appreciative of his writings (when the Pope came to Britain in 2010, a copy of his writings was given as a gift to Benedict. I believe the pope has read them in their original German).

It is true that the Apocalypsin (but not the Visions) has information and common motifs that were used by all medieval writers from Joachim of Fiore (who was condemned for his beliefs in a Trinitarian set-up to history in which the Papacy would be replaced by a council of twelve, which Holzhauser and other Orthodox writers do not borrow from him although they take other things which are useful since his writings are among the most translated of the middle ages and he did admit his errors and submit to the Mgisterium). The Great Monarch, Angelic Shephered and an evil Persian ruler (Chroseos) was taken, as in many medieval texts, from Joachim for Holzhauser "interpretatio" on his Visions.

La Salette has not been approved by the Vatican The bishop granted publication of this message. Rome has the authority to overturn the local bishop's decision. Although it has never happened that Rome overturned a local bishop's condemnation, there have been several cases Rome overturning the local bishop's approval.

Other prophecies hint at a long period of time.

The most credible of the Marian apparitions mentiong a period of peace (Fatima), gives no indication of time frame.

Millenarianism is condemned. Christ will not return to rule as an earthly, seculat Messiah. He is alresdy enthroned as King of Kings above all creation in his glorified resurrection state. However the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart and the Rule of the Church on earth, can last for as long as God wills.

I agree with you that prophets can be fallible. All the Church does with any private apparition or prophecy is declare that there is nothing in it contrary to faith and morals. Only Public Revelation is certainly true and complete.

However, one last section that comes from his "Visions" rather than the Interpretatio:

“When everything has been ruined by war; when Catholics are hard pressed by traitorous co-religionists and heretics, then the Hand of Almighty God will work a marvellous change, something apparently impossible according to human understanding. There will rise a valiant monarch anointed by God. He will be a Catholic, a descendant of Louis IX, yet a descendant of an ancient imperial German family, born in exile. He will rule supreme in temporal matters. The Pope will rule supreme in spiritual matters at the same time. Persecution will cease and justice shall rule. Religion seems to be suppressed, but by the changes of entire kingdoms it will be made more firm….He will root out false doctrines and destroy the rule of Moslemism. His dominion will extend from the East to the West. All nations will adore God their Lord according to the Catholic teaching. There will be many wise and just men. The people will love justice, and peace will reign over the whole earth, *for divine power will bind Satan for many years* until the coming of the Son of Perdition.” 14

Once more, Holzhauser's authentic visions indicate many years of peace, a long duration.

His commentary on Revelation, suffused with his own insights and what scholarship in his age was able to tell him about past predictions, confirms this.

You do not have to agree. I am only stating my and Venerable Holzhauser's opinion

BTW just to point out: It should be noted that Holzhauser's division of history follows Augustine's division of history into Seven Ages (or six, with the final seventh age) and not Joachim of Fiore's 3 millenarian ages. There is a Catholic Encloepedia from 1900-1911 which erroneously states that Holzhauser division was based upon Joachim. All that Holzhauser has in common with Joachim is what Joachim in turn took from the likes of the 7th century Pseudo-Methodius and all subsequent medieval prophets predicted: a Great Monarch, an Angelic Pope, tribulations, antichrist. Joachim shares this with many others. The key difference is that Holzhauser and other Orthodox writers set the age of peace BEFORE antichrist, whereas Joachim sets his third age of the Holy spirit AFTER Antichrist and is the millenarian heresy. I see no dependence of Holzhauser on Joachim apart from what Joachim has in common with all other authorities. The encloepedia article is thus wrong in that respect.

Thanks for that detail Anon! I didn't realise that was in the visions. I hope Ven. Holzhauser is right, and that there is an extended era of peace for humanity. There's no harm in being optimistic, and no one knows the day or hour. I cite Ven. Holzhauser's prophecy of the conversion of England somewhere on the blog - this will be the start of the Second Pentecost. My own opinion on the duration of the Second Pentecost is mostly formed from Rev 11, which tells how the Two Witnesses are killed by the Beast/Antichrist. The Two Witnesses are the ones who inaugrate the Second Pentecost (one of whom is the Elijah to come, who Malachi 4 tells us will bring the people back to the faith of their fathers before the terrible Day of the Lord). If the Two Witnesses are indeed killed by the Beast/Antichrist, then it stands to reason that it takes place over a single human life time.

I found the discussion at bottom interesting. These seem to be the two common ways of interpreting what is to come. I tend to side with the Ven. Holzhauser (maybe out of wishful thinking)

I see the progression as something like what Emmett envisions except that the Second Pentecost, with related signs, will initially awaken humanity and cause the Gospel to be preached universally. Humanity's response to this, within a relatively short interlude, will condition the severity of the prophesied Chastisement (and an Antichrist), but the Era of Peace and the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart (which I would also argue is the full flowering of the Second Pentecost) will come one way or the other. The Era and Triumph will last a long time, and then the Final Antichrist will arise.

About Me

As part of research for my book Unveiling the Apocalypse: Prophecy in Catholic Tradition, I studied the Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic languages before graduating in 2006 with First Class honours. My book is the product of around ten years of original research. This blog is intended as a means of supplementing the material presented in the book by providing relevant up-to-date information.